Tag Archives: 1950s

Shadow on the Wall (1950) Pat Jackson, Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Gigi Perreau, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller

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Angered that her sister Celia has stolen her fiance, Dell Faring kills her and allows Celia’s husband David, knocked out in an argument with Celia, to take the blame and end up on death row. Later Dell, finding out that David’s young daughter Susan was witness to the crime and is undergoing psychiatric treatment, plans to eliminate her before her memory returns.
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Zarak (1956) Terence Young, Victor Mature, Michael Wilding, Anita Ekberg, Action, Adventure, Romance

Zarak (Terence Young, 1956)
On the mountainous frontier between British India and Afghanistan, circa 1860s, Zarak Khan kisses Salma, the youngest wife of his father, Haji Khan. Outraged, his father orders Zarak to be flogged to death but spares his life at the urging of an elderly Mullah. Zarak now leaves his village and becomes a notorious outlaw, prompting the British to assign a Major Ingram to capture him. Zarak and Ingram have several encounters, developing a grudging respect for each other. When Ingram is captured by Ahmad, one of Zarak’s rivals, Zarak risks his life to save the British officer.
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La vérité sur Bébé Donge / The Truth About Bebe Donge (1952) Henri Decoin, Danielle Darrieux, Jean Gabin, Jacques Castelot, Drama, Thriller

La verite sur Bebe Donge (1952)
Francois Donge, a wealthy manufacturer, is fighting death at hospital. He officially suffers from a food poisoning. But actually, his wife Bebe deliberately poisoned him. Flashback: ten years before, Francois meets Bebe. He is already wealthy, and has many affairs. She is an idealistic young woman. He is thinking of taking a wife, she is looking for love…
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The Rawhide Years (1955) Rudolph Maté, Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy, Western

The Rawhide Years (Rudolph Mate, 1955)
Ben Matthews gives up the flashy life of a riverboat gambler, hoping to settle down in Galena with his girlfriend, luscious entertainer Zoe. But Galena’s leading citizen is murdered on the boat; Ben, on arrival, finds a lynch mob after his neck, and flees. Three years of wandering later, Zoe’s letters stop coming and Ben returns to find her and attempt the hopeless task of clearing himself.
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The Wonderful Country (1959) Robert Parrish, Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Gary Merrill, Romance, Western

The Wonderful Country (Robert Parrish, 1959)
Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father’s murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.
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The Star (1952) Stuart Heisler, Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden, Natalie Wood, Drama, Romance

The Star (Stuart Heisler, 1952)
Middle-aged Oscar winning actress Margaret Elliot – Maggie to those that know her – is a Hollywood has-been. Her life is in shambles. She clings to the hope of resurrecting her past movie stardom as a leading ingénue. No one will hire her, she’s penniless with creditors selling off anything that she owns that is of monetary value, and she has no one to turn to that can see her through financially. She has in the past supported her sister and brother-in-law, who still want to use her as their meal ticket. Divorced from her actor husband, she shares joint custody of their teen-aged daughter Gretchen, from who Maggie tries to hide her problems. When it looks as if Maggie has hit rock bottom, Jim Johannsen re-enters her life. Jim, who once had the stage name Barry Lester, got his big break in Hollywood movies by Maggie. He came to the quick realization that he was neither good as an actor or that he wanted to do it as a profession. He now works as a boat parts supplier and mechanic.
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The Five Pennies (1959) Melville Shavelson, Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Biography, Drama, Music

The Five Pennies (Melville Shavelson, 1959)
Loring “Red” Nichols is a cornet-playing country boy who goes to New York in the 1920s full of musical ambition and principles. He gets a job playing in Wil Paradise’s band, but quits to pursue his dream of playing Dixieland jazz. He forms the “Five Pennies” which features his wife, Bobbie, as vocalist. At the peak of his fame, Red and Bobbie’s daughter, Dorothy, develops polio. Red quits the music business to move to Los Angeles where the climate is better for Dorothy. As Dorothy becomes a young teen, she learns of her father’s musical past, and he is persuaded to open a small nightclub which is failing until some noted names from his past come to help out.
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Little Red Monkey / The Case of the Red Monkey (1955) Ken Hughes, Richard Conte, Rona Anderson, Russell Napier, Action, Adventure, Crime

Little Red Monkey (1955)
Several murders of nuclear scientists, that baffles Scotland Yard, occur in London about the same time that Bill Locklin, a special officer from the United States State Department, arrives to oversee the transfer of Professor Leon Dushenko, a Russian scientist who as fled the U.S.S.R. An attempt is made on Dushenko’s life with a monkey’s paw-print found at the scene. Newspaperman reporter Harry Martin is covering the story. Duskenko is moved secretly to a nursing home, while Locklin stumbles onto the hideout of the gang behind the killings. He is captured along with Julia Jackson, niece of Superintendent John Harrington. Locklin is tortured to reveal Dushenko’s hiding place but escapes in time to avert Duskenko’s murder at the hands of the gang’s hired-killer–-a midget who is aided by a monkey.
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The Purple Plain (1954) Robert Parrish, Gregory Peck, Bernard Lee, Win Min Than, Adventure, Drama, War

The Purple Plain (Robert Parrish, 1954)
After losing his bride in a Luftwaffe air raid, bomber pilot Forrester becomes a solitary killing machine, who doesn’t care whether he dies. The reckless Canadian pilot is both admired and feared by the rest of his squadron in World War II Burma. The squadron physician is assigned to determine the embittered Bill Forrester’s fitness for duty. To break through the nightmare-haunted man’s wall of silence, the physician drives Forrester to visit an outpost of English-speaking refugees, which includes an alluring young Burmese woman.
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The Magic Box (1951) John Boulting, Robert Donat, Maria Schell, Renée Asherson, Biography, Drama

The Magic Box (John Boulting, 1951)
Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As young and handsome William Green he changed his name to include his first wife’s so that it sounded more impressive for the photographic portrait work he was so good at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.
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Loan Shark (1952) Seymour Friedman, George Raft, Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Loan Shark (1952)
A vicious loan shark ring has been preying on factory workers. When several workers at a tire factory suffer violence at the hands of the loan sharkers, a union leader and the factory owner try to recruit ex-con Joe Gargan to infiltrate to the gang. At first Joe does not want to get involved, but changes his mind when his brother-in-law dies at the hands of a savage loan shark hood. Joe works his way into the mob, but in order to keep his cover, Joe can’t tell anyone what he is up to. This results in him being disowned by his sister and girl friend.
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